PRH admits processing delays

The Finnish Patent and Registration Office (PRH) says the processing times will be reduced by the end of April.

According to information received by Yrittajat.fi, paper registrations of new businesses are being processed quite slowly by the PRH at present. A paper form must be used to register matters such as a subsidiary company.

“Unfortunately, our processing times for types of notifications which require more specialist work, such as paper registrations, have increased. The notifications that need the most specialist processing have the longest processing times, around two months. Of those, we’ve prioritized certain notification types that are particularly important for business owners, such as merger and demerger notifications,” says Minna Paasikallio, interim Registration Unit Register Manager at the PRH.

The number of notifications submitted to the trade register has been growing annually. Paasikallio says the waiting times have increased due to high staff turnover, caused by factors such as retirements.

“Recruitment and onboarding take time. We started taking internal measures this autumn to tackle the build-up of notifications. Our goal is to significantly reduce processing times with the help of a range of waiting-time tackling arrangements by the end of April 2023.”

Electronic notifications processed in under a week

The PRH has prioritized the processing of electronic notifications. This has kept the processing times for electronic notifications to under a week.

With paper notifications, Paasikallio says a business can request expedited processing of its filing.

“In such a case, we try to complete the registration as quickly as possible. A request for expedited processing is free-form and the business owner must provide grounds. With the current congestion, we take bona fide requests for expedited processing into consideration as far as possible.”

It is still possible to submit almost all notifications to the PRH on paper. Sections 10 and 11 of the Business Information Act list the notifications which must be filed online.

Paasikallio does not believe that processing times will be delayed any further.

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